Latest / INSIGHT TODAY / Trump cancels Iran strikes subject to deal being made 'rapidly'

Transcript

Trump cancels Iran strikes subject to deal being made 'rapidly' · INSIGHT TODAY

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: President Trump has announced that he has canceled planned strikes
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: against Iran. Multiple sources had told CBS News, the BBC's
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: American media partner, that the US and Israel were planning
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: what would have been one of the harshest bombing campaigns
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: to date against energy infrastructure targets across the country. In
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: a post on his Truth social platform, he said he
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: was holding off that the request of Iran and other
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: Middle Eastern countries provided a deal was quickly reached. Such
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: a deal would include the immediate opening of the Strait
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: of Hormuz. On Saturday, Iran's Foreign Minister Abbasarakchi warned against
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: what he called adventurous action by the United States. Let's
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: speak to Mehran Camrava, who is professor at Georgetown University
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: in Qatar, where he runs the Iranian studies unit at
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: the Arab Center for Research and Policy Studies. Meran, very
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: good to have you with us. Do you sense that
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: Trump has backed down because of a genuine hope of
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: new talks, because of pressure from the Saudis we gather
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: the Saudi Crown Prince called him recently, or because of
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: the increased threats of Iranian retaliation.
• 1:07
  Speaker 2: I think it's all three. Mark. What we have seen
• 1:11
  Speaker 2: in the past is that the Iranians have not necessarily
• 1:15
  Speaker 2: responded to threats the way that the United States has
• 1:19
  Speaker 2: assumed they would. They have indeed carried out their escalatory
• 1:25
  Speaker 2: tactics by attacking energy infrastructures and other facilities here up
• 1:31
  Speaker 2: and down the Persian Gulf. And I think both sides,
• 1:34
  Speaker 2: both Iran and the United States, would like, indeed to
• 1:38
  Speaker 2: return to the negotiating table. It's just that neither side
• 1:42
  Speaker 2: has the courage or the wherewithal to do so at
• 1:46
  Speaker 2: the moment.
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: There is, though, isn't there Mehran, always the risk of
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: the boy who cried Wolf scenario that each time Donald
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: Trump issues more extravagant threats, he backs off and Iran
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: basically no longer believes that there is an imminent danger.
• 2:03
  Speaker 2: Indeed, as you just mentioned, Mark, this is not the
• 2:07
  Speaker 2: first time that President Trump has threatened Iran with massive bombardment.
• 2:15
  Speaker 2: Bombing Iran into the Stone Ages still is something that
• 2:18
  Speaker 2: people in Tehran talk about and indeed laugh at. And
• 2:23
  Speaker 2: so this is becoming somewhat of a pattern from the
• 2:28
  Speaker 2: United States.
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: And yet we are seeing more activity from the Iranian
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: proxies We've had drone attacks in Saudi Arabia, gas tankas
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: hit in Egypt. Do you get the sense that Iran
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: is stepping up its attacks?
• 2:45
  Speaker 2: Indeed, in fact, Iran does not mind what would be
• 2:50
  Speaker 2: a war of attrition. They want to see a prolonged
• 2:54
  Speaker 2: conflict whereby the costs of America's military presence in the region,
• 3:01
  Speaker 2: not just the war on Iran, but its military presence
• 3:04
  Speaker 2: would be prohibitive and would result in the United States
• 3:08
  Speaker 2: with drawing from at least the Persian Gulf, if not
• 3:12
  Speaker 2: the rest of the Middle East.
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, there was talk of the US planning
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: these attacks in conjunction with Israel. It would have been
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: the first Israeli attacks in Iran since the initial phase
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: of the war. And now Trump is saying that Israel
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: has also committed to new talks. Do you get the
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: sense that Trump is imposing his will on Benjaminetta Niahu
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: on this.
• 3:35
  Speaker 2: Certainly, the Israelis would not mind a reignition of a
• 3:40
  Speaker 2: major conflict with Iran, but the Americans have been much
• 3:44
  Speaker 2: more pragmatic. We have heard reports that American weapons are
• 3:49
  Speaker 2: running low. We have seen that the costs here in
• 3:53
  Speaker 2: the region of Iranian bombardment is extremely high, and so
• 3:58
  Speaker 2: there's a very different person option in Washington than there
• 4:01
  Speaker 2: is in Israel, and the United States has once again
• 4:05
  Speaker 2: appeared to have prevailed on Israel not to reignite a
• 4:09
  Speaker 2: full scale war on.
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: Iran mehrankme rather, Professor, Georgetown University in Kata. Always good
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: to get your thoughts, Thanks very much.